By ADRIAN STEWART CO
De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers used its championship experience to score a 25-19, 25-22, 25-17 win over Adamson University Lady Falcons in the do-or-die Game 3 of the Shakey’s Super League finals at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City on Sunday, August 13.
Shevana Laput unloaded 13 points on 11 hits and two blocks to lead the way for the Lady Spikers, which captured the league championship with a 2-1 win in the best-of-three series.
The second year Lady Spikers volleybelle was later hailed as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player after registering a 20.3 average in the finals, highlighted by a 30-point eruption in the Game 1 loss.
Thea Gagate (1st Middle Blocker), Ilongga Amie Provido (2nd Best Middle Blocker) and Alleiah Malaluan (2nd Best Outside Hitter) chipped in 10 points apiece for the reigning UAAP women’s volleyball champions.
“Sa amin, exposure ang hanap namin dito pero ito bonus na nag-champion. Maganda kasi kahit paano, nakita namin ‘yung mga kulang pa at kailangang i-adjust pagdating ng UAAP,” DLSU assistant coach Noel Orcullo said.
Trailing by 8-11 early in the first set, the Lady Spikers uncorked a 10-1 scoring barrage capped by a Gagate block to take command at 18-12, and eventually bagged a 25-19 set victory.
The Lady Spikers rode on that momentum in the second set as they surged to an 18-7 start. The Lady Falcons showed some life to cut the deficit to 22-23, but back-to-back hits from Provido and Gagate allowed the DLSU to escape with the set win.
The DLSU was never threatened from there on, getting off to the races with a red-hot 9-4 start in the fourth set behind Laput, Provido and Gagate en route to avenging their runner-up finish in the first conference of Shakey’s last year.
Lucille Almonte, who erupted for 24 points in a stunning Game 1 escape act for the Lady Falcons, had 11 points to lead the runner-up finishers in their first tournament under Negrense mentor JP Yude.
Meanwhile, other individual awardees included Bernadett Pepito (Best Libero) and Angeline Poyos (1st Best Outside Hitter) of the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses, which bagged the tournament’s bronze medal./ASC, WDJ